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Eastern Nevada Project

Eastern Nevada Project
Eastern Nevada Project
© Louis Provencher

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
The Nature Conservancy's Eastern Nevada Project and the federal Bureau of Land Management's Ely District each contain portions of the Great Basin and Mojave Desert Ecoregions. More than 650 plant and animal species thrive in the diverse ecological systems throughout the 72-million-acre Great Basin. Hundreds more flourish - sometimes improbably - in the arid but uniquely adapted 33 million acres of the Mojave.

The Conservancy and BLM are working with other stakeholders in an innovative public-private partnership seeking ways to balance biological preservation with land uses such as grazing, agriculture, wildlife management and recreation.

Threats
The combined effects of fire suppression, historic over-grazing, excessive groundwater depletion and invasive weeds pose the greatest threat to the biological health of these lands.

Plants
Sagebrush, pinyon-juniper woodlands

Animals

  • greater sage grouse
  • pygmy rabbit
  • desert bighorn sheep
  • migratory and riparian birds including:
    • southwest willow flycatcher
    • yellow-billed cuckoo
  • numerous important aquatic species including:
    • Hardy spring snail
    • Emigrant spring snail
    • Morman White River spring fish
    • White River speckled dace
    • Pahranagat round tail chub

Our Conservation Strategy
The Conservancy is committed to securing the permanent protection of 80 sites consisting of about 2.5 million acres of Eastern Nevada's most ecologically significant lands and waters. These sites - which comprise entire watersheds, vast landscapes and complex natural systems - are located primarily on publicly owned lands managed by the BLM and US Forest Service.

Eastern Nevada Project
Eastern Nevada Project
© Louis Provencher
What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
When the BLM announced plans to update its 22-year-old Resource Management Plan for the 11.4-million-acre Ely District, the Conservancy and other members of the non-profit Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition - a working group including BLM, USFS, the US Fish and Wildlife Agency, ranchers, conservationists and state and local agencies - were invited to review management processes and strategies and make recommendations.

From fall 2002 to winter 2003, scientists from the Conservancy led a series of multi-partner workshops to help the ENLC and BLM address the threats and establish conservation priorities for four planning areas encompassing 3 million acres:

  1. Eradicating and/or managing invasive weeds/grasses/tamarisk throughout entire watersheds by providing inventory support, funding support and taking measures to prevent introduction.
  2. Allowing for landscape-scale prescribed fire and mechanical fuel thinning.
  3. Introducing new ecological concepts in public land management policy including computer modeling and statistical modeling and measuring of ecological results.

Preserves/Projects/Places to Visit
Contact Dr. Louis Provencher, (775) 322-4990, ext. 20